Means for headwear manufacture



July 16, 1940. A, CAMPA 2,207,910

MEANS FOR HEADWEAR MANUFACTURE Filed Oct. 3, 1958 FIG. 2.

BRIM BRIM STIT HING FORMING TR| 1 INITIAL SECOND SIZING SIZING INITIAL F|N|AL BLOCKING BLOCKING INVENTOR ALEXANDER CAMPA ATTORNEY Patented July 16, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MEANS FOR HEADWEAR MANUFACTURE- xAlexander Gamma, St. Louis, Mo., assignor to Caradine Hat Compamgst. Louis,'jMo a cor-.

poration of'Missouri Application October is, leans ermine. 232,996

v1 Claim.

Such a hat-body is constructed by weaving or,

pleating collodion-coated strands of paper, fiber, or suitable straw and in its original condition l embodies an excessively wide brim, is soft and pliable, and is unsightly andunshapely inappear- .ance, merely approximately conforming to the shape and contour of the finished hat. I

In block-shaping and otherwise'processinglhat- .bodies .of this type, meansmust be employed to produce a hat of shape and contour conforming in :style to prevailing fashions, which at present dictate a rather wide brim having a downward curl at the front and an upwardcurlat the rear.

1 The depth of this curl, as indicated :atmin .Fig-' ,ure 1, is commonlyreferred toas' the flange;.thus,'

for instance, if the :distance is one inch, .the particular hat would be said to have a brim of one inch flange.

: vNow United States Letters-Patent No.i2,040,354,

issued on May 22, 1936, fully describes vanclxsets forth methods and means for the production, from a raw hat-body of the type mentioned, of afinished hat having a welted brim of relatively small flange, such,.for instance, asa or inch.

The equipment for brim production described in said Patent No. 2,040,354, while entirely successful in the formation of an attractive brim of small flange, could not successfully effect the making of an equally attractive brim of relatively deep flange; on the contrary, a brim having a number of radial creases or so-called puckers at various spaced points around the margin resulted, rendering the hat unmerchantable. 4o In addition, welted brims are of two types, i namely, upper welts in which the in-turned brim margin is.,folded upon the upwardly presented brim face, and under welts in which the in-turned brim margin is folded upon the down- 4 wardly presented brim face. At the present time, so far as I am aware, entirely different means must be employed for the production of these two types of welted brims.

My invention hence has for its object the pro- 50 duction in a simple, economical, and convenient manner upon a hat of the type stated of an attractive, smooth, welted brim having a substantially long radius of curvature or deep flange.

My invention also has for an object the provi- 55 sion of a process and means for producing attrac- ,tiveunpuckeredhat brims either of upper or of under welt'type ina simple, convenient manner and; without material change in operation or equipment.

And'with the above and other objects in view, 5 my, invention resides inthenovelxfeatures: of .form, .construction;arrangement, combination of :parts and in the method or process presently described .-and.pointed out in the claim.

Inthe accompanying drawing-, p10 Figure l'is a ,side elevational'view of a finished hat having a deep-flange brim constructed .in accordance with my present invention;

vFigure 2; is a schematic'view illustrating the several sequential steps in the production of :a -,1-5 broadior wide deep-flange brim in accordance with mypresent invention; .-Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view of an initial blocking or forming machine for processing" the .raw hat-body, and its brim, in accordance with eg Amy present invention;

, Figures land 5 are, respectively, perspective views of thaw-operable male and female brimformersof invention;

L Figures .6 and "7, are longitudinal andrtransverse p25 cross-sectional views, respectively, of a hat-body ,during brim formation between co-operablemale ;and-fe male formers of my invention; and

Figure 8 ,is a fragmentary vertical sectional view-of co-operable male. and-femalebrim formers in which the femalelmember is modified for the ,productioneitherof under or upper welts.

Broadly speaking, the production according to my invention of a finished hat A, Figure 1, having a wide, deep-flange brim 13 comprises, in sequential order, the steps of initial blocking, initial sizing, brim-forming, brim stitching and trimming, second sizing, and final blocking, as indicated in Figure 2 and as will presently be more fully described. 40

In the initial blocking, the raw hat body A is placed between preferably steam-heated, pressure-expansive companion mold-members F, F, constructed of vulcanized rubber and having a shape conforming substantially to the desired shape of the entire finished hat A, both the crown and brim of the hat being thus formed or shaped in one operation.

After blocking, the hat-body A is initially sized, preferably through application, by spraying, dipping, or other suitable method, of a coat of suitable hat lacquer to the brim and lower portion of the crown.

Upon application of the initial sizing coat, the hat-body A is allowed to dry and is then sequentially subjected to a brim-forming operation in which I employ a male brim-former C comprising a somewhat elliptically contoured preferably metallic ring I dished in cross-section and accurately machined upon its one or under face, as at c, to conform in curvature precisely to the brim-shape of the initial shaping pressure-expansive formers or molds F, F, the former C being of substantial thickness, as shown, and. provided upon its other or upper face with a marginalepressing-rim Fixed to the ring I along its inner peripheral margin by means of screws or the like 2 and presented outwardly from the central portion of the under face a thereof, is a preferably wooden block 3 having a peripheral shape and contour conforming to the inner contour of the crown adjacent the brim of the particular hat-body, as best seen in Figure 3.

Also provided for complementary engagement with the male brim-former C, is 2. preferably metallic female brim former D having an elliptically shaped opening, as at 4, and. an upper face 11 precisely contoured for exact conformation to block 3 and to the under face 0 of the male brim former C, and a flat under face d suitable for resting securely upon the usual work table E.

The former D, between the outer margin of its brim forming face d and its vertical side face (1 is sharply chamfered in the provision of a bevel :2 which is equipped with a pair of diametrically opposed index lines 5, 5, for registration with similarly disposed index lines 6, 6', upon the pressing margin or rim c of the male brim former C.

After the initially sized hat-body, as A, Figures 5, 6, has dried sufiiciently, the crown z thereof is pressed downwardly upon the shallow crown block 3 of the male brim former C and the hatbody A and brim-former C together forced downwardly into the female brim-former D, as best seen in Figure 5, whereupon the brim, as B, will be formed under pressure between the brimmember D may be provided having a curved brim-forming surface e complementary in shape to the surface 0 of the male member C and.- having an inwardly sloping vertical side face e against which the extended brim margin b may be folded down and pressed, all as best seen in Figure 8.

Following such blocking operation, the hatbody A is removed from the brim-forming members C and D and the brim B thereof stitched and trimmed preferably as in said Patent No. 2,040,354 set forth. Preferably also the entire hat-body A is sprayed, coated, and worked as indicated in Figure 2 and as in said Patent No. 2,040,354 also fully described in the production of the finished hat A having an exceedingly attractive, neat, welt-edge brim B having, in turn, a curl or flange of selected depth and flexibility to meet the demands of present day fashions and requirements.

Preferably, the former-block 3 is provided with a plurality of finger-grip recesses for facilitating hat-forming operations, and it should be understood that the degree of curvature of the co-,

operably brim-engaging faces of the formers C and D may be varied to meet the selected flangedepth of the finished brim, and that other changes and modifications in the several steps of brimproduction, as well as also in the form, construction, arrangement, and combination of the several parts of the hat may be made and substituted for those herein shown and described without departing from the nature. and principle of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A brim former for woven strand hats comprising, in' combination, a first ring-shaped member having a crown-accommodatingopening, the rim of said opening having a concaved upper face, a vertical peripheral side wall, a flat under face for support engagement, and a beveled face intermediate of, and connecting, said upper face and peripheral wall, and a companion ringshaped member having an under face convexed for precisely matching the concaved upper face i.

tering marginally with the first member when the members are in brim-pressing engagement. ALEXANDER CAMPA. 

